When a reader sent me an e-mail on how Sarah Palin’s ex-son-in-law-to-be was not made welcome at a swank Hollywood Party this weekend, I begin to feel sorry for the teenager:
Levi Johnston flew first class to LA for the party and calls himself “Ricky Hollywood,” but he was barely noticed by the dozens of actual Hollywood celebrities inside GQ’s “Men of the Year” party at Chateau Marmont Wednesday night.
His fifteen minutes of fame are running out. His usefulness to those who promoted him is beginning to wane.
Were he older, I would have little sympathy for the guy. But, because he’s so young and comes from a messed up family (thanks to the MSM’s Palin obsession, we know all about his mother’s drug problems), it’s no wonder he was subject to the blandishments of the media. One wonders if some “journalist” helped promote his split from Palin’s daughter Bristol by making promises to the handsome young man of a career in Hollywood.
For certain figures in the media clearly delighting in promoting him so as they could better destroy their favorite villain in the post-George W. Bush era, the grandmother of his child. He took their interest in destroying Palin as a real interest in him and giving a kid from rural Alaska a chance in the big city.
Levi Johnston to the media is like Jay Gatsby to the New York socialites who attended his swank parties, but missed his funeral. They loved him for the entertainment he could provide, but didn’t care about him as a person. So it will be with Levi–when he can no longer help them advance their agenda, they could care less about him as a person.
And given how young Levi and lacking strong guidance from his parents, he may well have assumed that the media interest in his story indicated that Hollywood folk were interested in his career.
I find myself agreeing with you. He is still a teenager, right? I do think he’s a dirtbag, but truly, your observations about his upbringing are spot on, and he is absolutely being played.
His usefulness to those who promoted him is beginning to wane.
I suppose he can join Cindy Sheehan on the liberal has-been bench.
Very well expressed thoughts. I feel bad for the guy in many ways. Hopefully this will be turned for good some how.
Wisdom and good judgment are qualities that most 19 year olds possess or can even wrapped their heads around.
What is worse is that Palin offered him an out and he threw it in her face by behaving badly. That was just a week ago. Now he has driven one more wedge between himself and a safe sanctuary.
Sarah Palin seems to agree with you. In the Oprah interview, she wouldn’t say anything particularly negative about him. She said she was sad that he was taking the path he was, that she didn’t think he realized where it was going to lead, and that she was praying for him. She said he will always be the father of her beautiful grandchild and hopes he will come to his senses. Oprah asked rather sarcastically if Levi was coming to Thanksgiving dinner and Palin said he had an open invitation to do so. I thought Palin’s comments about this were very classy.
Dan, it’s possible that some media type may have helped the split between Levi and Bristol, and I’m sure it didn’t help matters. I think the split had more to do with their ages. They were only 18 and 17, respectively, or younger when they started dating. I would estimate that a good 90% of such relationships end in breakups before marriage. I found it mindboggling that while Bristol was still 17, they even considered marriage, i.e., compound one big mistake with another huge one.
As for Levi Johnston, I don’t feel sorry for him at all. Not many of us get even 15 minutes of fame. He’s had that and more. But now, as you suggest, it appears to be waning. Also, he could have been more classy when talking about the Palin family. But he is only 19 years old. Not always a group you’d expect wisdom from.
I’ll bet the Hollywood celebs at the GQ party who shunned Levi either thought “Yech, what has he ever done?”… or maybe even didn’t know who he was (which would be worse, for Levi).
Levi has cut himself off from getting a real job and settling down. He reminds me of Monica Lewinsky who now wants it all to just go away.
I fully believe that Palin has it in her heart to forgive her grandson’s father for his foolishness and to be adult in sharing the joy of the child with his biological father.
I hope the people who bash Palin by calling her a “Christianist” and fundamentalist have some perspective and see the difference between Palin’s heart and motivations and the moral relativity of Levi. When he is presented in his trailer trash mode, the one thing missing in the reporting is that he has no strong belief system to guide him.
That is the price extracted for moral relativity. You do not accept blame and responsibility, you take the victim route and off load everything on somebody else. You are always saying that you fell in with the wrong crowd. You never realize that you are the wrong crowd.
Levi has ventured forth on a path of destruction. He thinks he is destroying Palin, when in fact he has set his own hair on fire.
It’s sad that Levi got duped into believing the progressive left really cared about him.
It’s downright tragic that 52% of voters were duped into believing the same thing.
I’m sure there are many in the gay community who would be more than willing to continue to exploit him–at least until he hits his 20s.
Note to Levi: Stop being a self-serving jackass. If he thinks he has the (pseudo)mother in-law from hell, get in line. No matter what you think of Bristol’s mom, you will always be the father. Playtime is over. Go back to Alaska, be a man and be a decent father to your child.
And even if Sarah Palin is all those awful things you claim she is, you never become a saint through other people’s sins.
I have no sympathy for the boy.
He is a self serving egotistical little sycophant who will end up being a punch line for some late night program long after no one cares any more (ala Joey budafuco).
Yes he is a teenager, but that is no excuse for being an idiot and a tool.
I have friends from far worse backgrounds who turn out fine, but this kid saw the profit in dating the governor’s daughter, saw the profit in playing the dutiful son-in-law to be and then saw the profit in being a shiv in Palin’s back.
I have no sympathy at all… I will be glad for the day where he is no where to be seen.
I suspect you are right, Asphenaz. The Advocate website has run several stories about Levi Johnston in recent weeks. I’m amazed at all the bitter gays who come out of the woodwork and praise Levi for doing his part to trash Sarah Palin. What, I want to ask them, has Sarah Palin ever done to you?
From Ninilchik, Alaska… We never feel sorry for anyone making 100K$+ for getting his pic taken… He’s making some easy bucks… What’s the big deal? … btw, I don’t like him but that’s irrelevant…
I know I should feel some sympathy toward Levi, but I’m just not there yet. I’m at still at the point where I’m expecting any moment now to read how “Ricky Hollywood” just asked his publicist to try setting up a photo-op “date” with Meghan McCain or something.
Hi all. The liberals latched onto this guy because he’s not too bright, is easily influenced (I suspect they were constantly telling him Palin and her family were screwing him), easily controlled and best of all they thought he had dirt on Palin. The liberals have such a blind hatred on for Palin that regardless of the evidence they are positive there is a pile of dirt somewhere, all they have to do is find it (or in the case of some bloggers and msm, make it up). Levi is now going to get dumped by the lib celebs because it’s becoming come clear that he doesn’t have any “dirt” on Sarah or her family. The moment the libs realized that, he became only a minor curiosity to them and not worth the time or effort to push him forward.
In a way, I kind of feel a little bit sorry for him. I hope he saved whatever money he made as I’m pretty sure he won’t be getting a job in Alaska any time soon. I also hope that he doesn’t get a lot of visitation rights until he show’s that he’s matured as both a person and a father.
I guess you do have a point. But I still can’t help but get angry at this young man. He doesn’t even realize he’s being used!
Hollywood chews them up and spits them out by the thousands daily and many of them have talent. They are not just a pretty boy/girl with (supposed) dirt on a former governor.
Yeah, poor Levi, what an asshole and the Hollywood meat grinder story plays over and over and over.
He doesn’t even realize he’s being used!
Scherie, Levi may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think he knows he’s being used. I think he chose to do all the interviews, parties, etc., knowing that he was going to be used. At the very least, he is indifferent to it, and doesn’t care that he is being used. Now, years down the road, it’s possible he may come up again and say how great the Palin family was, and that the liberal media made him do this, etc. We’ll see.